A True Story

Posted Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 8:01 PM

The Story's Mystery Man

Now here is a true story I received via the internet...

A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, 'I hope he doesn't come over here.' But sure enough, the man did come over to their table.

'Where are you folks from?' he asked in a friendly voice.

'Oklahoma'they answered.

'Great to have you here in Tennessee ,' the stranger said. 'What do you do for a living?'

'I teach at a seminary,' he replied.

'Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you ? Well, I've got a really great story for you.' And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple.

The professor groaned and thought to himself, 'Great .. Just what I need...another preacher story!'

The man started, 'See that mountain over there? (pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, 'Hey boy, Who's your daddy?' Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, 'Who's your daddy?'

He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so bad. 'When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?'

But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast that he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.

Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?'

The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy?'

'This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy. 'Wait a minute! I know who you are! I see the family resemblance now, You are a child of God.'

With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.'

'With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who 's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them , 'I'm a Child of God.''

The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, 'Isn't that a great story?'

The professor responded that it really was a great story!

As the man turned to leave, he said, 'You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!' And he walked away..

The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over & asked her, 'Do you know who that man was -- the one who just left that was sitting at our table?'

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

Brian, that's a wonderful story. I do have to say that whenever I read something reputed to be true, I immediately check it out on snopes.com and was very happy when snopes said that it is true. That is a very inspiring story, something we need to hear more of in this day and age. Thank you for posting it.

~Sandy Gillispie

-- Posted by dlfiend4ever on Fri, Feb 27, 2009, at 4:04 PM

Brian - Brian.... You are a bit of a cheap shot artist, aren't you?

A while back, when I opined that the media was in the tank for the President, and that they lie for him, you took cheap shots at me then. I tried to take the high road, and answered you sincerly, and I have never treated you with anything but respect.

So now, you cheap shot me again. Very brave of you. What do you stand for Brian? Anything? Everything? Nothing?

I have respect for the others who disagree with me, but not for you. They call me names, and I still respect them, because they are not afraid of debate, or argument. You seem to have some sense of hyper nobility.

So, if you don't want to read my blog, don't. Who the hell is forcing you? Also, I don't like you putting words in my mouth, or taking me out of context. If you think I am wrong, then tell me why, don't just mouth off then run. Try and cease with the cheap shots, okay?

-- Posted by sameldridge on Fri, Feb 27, 2009, at 11:41 PM

I've been out of town helping family move so that's why the slow response...

We certainly see past events and comments made around here differently Sam. I could easily accuse you of putting words in my mouth and being used out of context as you accuse me.

We obviously feel very differently about our previous exchanges here in the blogsphere, but since I won't be commenting further on your blogs, you need not worry about any further perceived "cheap shots" from me either.